Trail blown: Igor Kirillov's likely killers may have been linked to extremist insurgency

Two new defendants in the case of the murder of the head of the Russian Chemical Defense Forces Igor Kirillov - 25-year-old Batukhan Tochiev and 22-year-old Ramazan Padiev - turned out to be natives of the Ingush villages of Surkhakhi and Yandyre - places of compact residence of the religious community of the Batalhadzhins, the militant wing of which is recognized as a terrorist organization, a source in the law enforcement agencies told Izvestiya. The Basmanny court arrested them on January 16. Three natives of Surkhakhi, arrested for selling weapons to the perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall in March 2024, are also suspected of involvement in this current. Details - in the material "Izvestia".

New suspects in the attempted assassination of Igor Kirillov

January 16, Basmanny district court of Moscow arrested two new defendants in the case of the terrorist attack on the head of radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Kirillov. They were 25-year-old Batukhan Tochiev and 22-year-old Ramazan Padiev, natives of the Ingush villages of Surkhakhi and Yandyre.

Batukhan Tochiev

Photo: IZVESTIYA

According to the Investigative Committee, in November 2024, Tochiev and Padiev, acting on the instructions of an unidentified handler, rented a room in a hostel in the Moscow region for the perpetrator of the terrorist attack, Akhmadzhon Kurbonov. There he was to take refuge after committing the crime.

The money for the rent was transferred by the organizer to Tochiev's account. Padiev personally went to the hostel, paid for the accommodation and videotaped the situation in and around the hostel, and then gave Kurbonov the keys to the shelter in a shopping center in Moscow. Tochiev subsequently paid for the renewal of the lease, Izvestia's sources said.

Ramazan Padiev

Photo: IZVESTIYA

Izvestiya found out that the owner of the hostel for migrants where Kurbonov lived turned out to be 40-year-old Matvey Kurasov, who earns money from recycling scrap metal in Ingushetia. Since 2014, he had rented the building at Gazgoldernaya ul. 6, and in November 2024 bought it in ownership for 160 million rubles, follows from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, cadastre data, materials of arbitration and courts of general jurisdiction.

Photo: IZVESTIYA

Terrorist attack by phone call: suspect in the murder of General Kirillov detained

Terrorist testified under interrogation, faces life in prison

Matvey Kurasov was born in the village of Beliye Vody in Kazakhstan, and registered in the Moscow region city of Orekhovo-Zuevo, follows from the data on the individual entrepreneur in the SPARK system. There is no data on the IE's revenue in the public domain, but the hostel is not Kurasov's main business. He is listed as the sole beneficiary of the company "Met-Industria" from Ingushetia. Its main activity is wholesale trade in metals. The company has a license to process ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap. The revenue of Met-Industria in 2023 exceeded 1 billion rubles.

Photo: IZVESTIYA

Other individual entrepreneurs from Orekhovo-Zuyevo were registered at the e-mail address of Matvei Kurasov specified in the tax office for communication. Among them, at least one - Yuri Melnichuk - is also connected with business in Ingushetia. He is listed as the general director of RIKOD LLC, whose main activity is construction and metal processing. The company belongs to Ruslan Tumgoev.

Camera staging: General Kirillov's killer was identified using billing software

The perpetrator of the terrorist attack was apprehended within 24 hours, having traced his path through calls and surveillance system

Connection with the terrorist attack in Crocus City

In one of the leaked data on personal income, Izvestia was able to find information about Kurasov's employment in the Chechen company Nordex LLC. Previously, this company was also called RIKOD and was registered in Ingushetia. Among its activities are wholesale of sheet glass and aluminum production. Both Kurasov's former employer and RIKOD LLC, which is related to his IP, have other indications of affiliation. For example, the general director of both companies at different times was the same person - Vladimir Zdobnov.

Izvestiya's sources in law enforcement agencies assure that they have information about connections of terrorists from the militant wing of Batalhadzhin not only with religious extremists, but also with the Ukrainian security services. The wanted leader of this community, Ilyas Belkhoroev, has publicly stated that he provides assistance to the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion, which operates on the side of the AFU. In September 2024, a Swedish grenade launcher with nationalist stickers in Ukrainian was found in the house of one of Belkhoroev's cousins.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

In addition, three natives of Surkhakhi village - Hussein Medov, Dzhabrail Aushev and Khavazh-Bagaudin Aliyev - are suspects in the case of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. According to law enforcement agencies, the militants who committed the crime had been looking for weapons for a long time and at some point came to the Batalhajin combat wing, which provided them with them. The terrorists arrived in Surkhakhi, took the assault rifles and ammunition from the Batalkhajin and drove to Moscow to carry out the attack.